Nov 09 and we're feeling fine, feeding, burping, not enough sleeping - that's us!

[BeckyBendyLegs]

Just thought I'd better create a new thread.

Raggie how about a trip to Burford?

erika sending you a hug - keep busy and take care.

laugs hope James is well. Sorry to hear about your continuing bf problems. I felt like this a couple of weeks ago but things are improving. It's unbelievable that it takes such a long time to get right. I found that kamilosan helped me much better that lansinoh, and is less than half price of that in Boots. If you want to keep trying I really recommend it.

scarlotti good luck tomorrow!

I second the opinion that it's better for dh to stay away if he decides to go on the raz. I noticed that I've become much more intolerant of him being drunk, it really bothers me these days, so if he can keep out of my way I'm much happier. And having just one child to look after is not too daunting for one night. Not sure how I'd react to a longer stint, ursi.

Lucy has started cooing, I put her in her crib next to me after the early morning feed yesterday and she started telling animated stories to a pink mouse hanging from the side of her bed. They were having quite a chat

skorpion how lovely of your little Lucy chatting to a pink mouse . Reuben has started too, literally just in the last few days, he goes 'aaaaagoooooooooooooo' followed by a coy look and a grin lovely isn't it!

skorpion Rosa is a right little chatterbox too. We must get her and Lucy together; who knows what they'll discuss . She has started being happy lying in her cot just gurgling away, which is aMAZing - a little bit of independence/self reliance goes a long way to helping mummy, doesn't it? Even today, she has a cold, poor snotty little thing, but is still having a grin and chat.

Thinking of you erika and hoping you can have a chat to someone who can help.

laugs poor James and poor you!

skorpion thanks, am just trying to read through my cv and remember what I've done in the past to get it fresh in my head!

Ioan coos and chats away here too, it's so sweet. We have a bouncer chair with an arch with rattly toys on it upstairs in the loft room, and I sit him in it while I take my shower. He loves to chat to the lion in the middle and has now worked out how to bat the toys on the side and make them rattle! Bless him.

raggie another one here glad of a little self reliance, he seems happy now to go into his buggy for a nap and will lay there for a little while before quite happily allowing me to get on with some things.

Laugs sorry to hear about what's been happening with you and James. How old is he now? I did notice a tremedous shift in the ease of bf after the 6 week spurt. Latching on was no longer a problem and the length of feeds dropped considerably as he got the hang of it. I've just noticed another shift now he's past his 12 week spurt.
If you do feel you can't carry on though, give yourself huge credit for persevering as long as you have, then hang up any guilt. Babies thrive on love and affection, which all the babies on this thread get in abundance. Feeling guilty about using formula will only affect you and make you feel blue, James will have a lovely full tummy regardless of the source of the milk.
Most of our generation were raised on formula as that was the fashion, and we've produced so many bright sparks and entreprenuers etc.

Really should get back to my cv ...

scarlotti good luck for your interview, i will send you lots of positive vibes to you.

Get ready for a DH moan...

We were eating leftover spaghetti bolognaise this evening, just now. Lovely in fact as it normally is the next day. Reuben is happily kicking in his rocker, DH wolfed his down as he is going out (again). Reuben started crying, DH picked him for a cuddle and noticed that he needed a nappy change and I had not finshed my yummy food, not by a long shot. So, he got a nappy out to change him in the front room and was presented with the most humumgous smelly nappy in the entire world 'oh.my.god!' exclaims DH 'it is all up his stomach, we have ourselves and exploding nappy' and goes off to get the matt to change it properly. Cue much shock, horror and sounds of dismay as he proceeds to unwrap the bundle of joy that is shite, stomach, legs, clothes, the works.

I am sat right there, right next to him and say how it was not so great to have this going on beside me while i was eating, and DH said 'would have done it in the other room if i had known' you should have anyway boyo, you knew it was shitty and i was eating. Then he continues to go on and on about how it smelt, looked, etc. I reminded him i was eating and how gross it was 'at least i am changing it, you should be grateful' he comments.

GRATEFUL? i say, GRATEFUL? Why on earth should i be grateful that YOU, Father of our child, who notices he has pooed his nappy while I am eating, chooses to change his horrendous shite filled bottom in front of me, next to me while i eat my TEA !!' and he laughed and said 'sorry, you are right that was inappropriately worded, i did not mean to imply you should be grateful i was changing the nappy' err...that is not what you implied, it is what you said. Cheeky man. He did a whole lot of apologising after than i can tell you

Reuben has changed his mind about bottles he took a bottle a few days ago, he drank 100ml straight up, no fights, as if he was a professional bottle drinker! And it was like he has said 'hope you enjoyed that mama & dada as that is all you are going to get!' and he has hardly taken one since. He took a few mls of an ebm bottle but went to sleep before he finished, and since then he has actually refused them, he is crying instead. I said I would not allow him to get distressed as it broke my heart when we tried to force DD onto a bottle (unsuccessfully). Any tips? He had previously only wanted it v warm, so we have done warm, he has also been offered, a little warm and cool. He was fine with avent teats. He took the most when DH was feeding, but now he won't even take it from him.

Sorry pav no tips but how is Reuben sleeping? Ethan is sleeping longer on his first stretch, usually 5hrs once even 6, but still not early to bed. Are you trying any more of a routine?

I asked DP to change a nappy and put Ethan's sleepsuit on while I ironed his work shirts. His response: "I'm relaxing!"

Erika keep your chin up, you're doing a great job.

scarlotti best of luck tomorrow.

He is sleeping significantly better, he is going for around 5hours i guess, which i am happy with, from about midnight ish. It does vary, sometimes he has slept for almost 6, sometimes less, he has even done an 8hour stretch but alas that started at 7pm so i did not benefit, and as the hours went on i did not want to sleep as i expected him to wake any moment! Routine is coming i think, of sorts. I get him ready for bed into sleeping bag at about 10pm, then we hop into bed for cuddles, feed, sleep (yeah right!), and then in the morning he goes back to sleep at around 6am or so until about 8am or so (coincides with the whirlwind waking up though!), the nighttimes are still a bit random, and daytimes, well, there is no routine that i can see! Glad Ethan is sleeping a little...are you able to sleep when he does at night?

I just got Reuben to take 30mls, i say 'got him' i mean he chose to take 30mls! But only after giving him some boob first, which meant he was full from it and only wanting to 'play' with the bottle - dessert if you like! He almost went to sleep with it, then i put him in the moses basket and he is now cooing and staring at the ceiling smiling at godknowswhat!

Well last night was blissful... I went to bed at 9:30. Ethan stayed up with dad then fed from 11-12 ish (always seems to have marathon feeding sessions at night which worries me as an earlier bedtime would rule this out) then he slept til 5:30, quick feed and back to sleep til 8:30. But most nights we're on the sofa or in my bed feeding fairly constantly for a couple of hours before bed which is really tiring. And no discernible routine during the day.

So you think we're heading in the right direction sleepwise? Is it ok to stick with late bedtime for now? Not sure whether to or how to bring this forward myself.

Other than that he is doing brilliantly. Lots of goos and ggggs and smiles. He seems to love other kids so his big cousins have had some lovely displays. He's especially happy in the morning which gives mummy some get up and go!

claire i think the late bedtime is fine. He is sleeping very well by the sounds of it, so just go with it imo. If you bring it forward, he will only feed constantly like he does anyway. That is what DH and I decided after a chat about it a few nights ago when i suggested maybe we needed to bring it forward a bit. Realised that if he is not ready for sleep at 8-9pm he will not sleep whether we try or not. So we are going to work on getting him to sleep before 11pm, and letting the evening takes its course. Once his 11pm+ sleep is getting there, we will look at developing it earlier (maybe he will be wanting to sleep earlier then). I am now just happy he is not attached to my boob constantly in the evenings...he gives me half hour breaks now to coo and smile .

I read that 6 hour stretch with no wake-ups was classed as 'sleeping through the night' so Ethan is already doing it .

I am off to bed as the little fellow is asleep after taking another 20ml of milk [yey!] which was room temp not warm! I was surprised, so was he i think . Fingers crossed for a long sleep, but won't bank on it...hope you get a good sleep tonight.

Thanks for the reassurance pav, was just getting concerned that my 'going with the flow' might be developing bad habits. Especially as everyone, and I mean everyone, seems to expect him to be in bed early.

PS Sweet dreams pav, hope you get a good few hours!

Loads to catch up on and very little chance of me doing so.. DH was away for 5 days. Wow what a struggle it was. Mainly due to DS2 has reached 12 weeks old and has become very aware of himself and wants to see the world and whats going on around him, instead of getting some sleep. This is fine, but the 15 mins naps he is having are a real strain. But bedtimes are much easier now. He goes down after DS1 at 7.30pm and has 2 dream feeds which take him through to 6am. I can't complain as it feels good to get some sleep at night for a change. Clared21 I agree with pav regarding bedtime. I went with the flow as well until the feeding became more of a set pattern and less often. I did start a bedtime routine of bath,massage, sleeping bag, feed and then went with what baby needed in the evening. I think it helps to have the same routine established so they realise what evening is. I'm sure you'll get there soon enough

Scar good luck today ( I hope it is today)

We are off to Ikea today. Taking both DS's. I'm hoping it will not be too busy on a monday. I just need to find the energy to take us there.. I scraped my car door on an iron gate the other day. I knew it was there but didn't judge the distance very well. You could say I was very upset, there were plenty of tears flowing, me ringing my Dad in a state (as DH was away) . I wasn't upset at the damage I caused, but the fact I was so tired and emotional and I did something so silly! As my Dad said, we are all safe and that's the main thing..

scarlotti, good luck for today! I'm going to meet my boss at 2pm to see if there is anything I could do from home and only a couple of hours. To be honest, if I was him I would say no but he lets everybody work who wants.

pavlov, so there is some progress bottlewise. I wish I could say the same about Paula. She never takes more than 10ml and cries a lot. It is usually my husband trying but last time I wanted to try too and first she played with it but as soon as a drop of milk (ebm!) came out she turned her head away and cried again. As if it didn't taste good!

claired, Paula sleeps from 9pm for about 45min, then she needs another feed and then she sleeps for a couple of hours (we have already been at 5 or 6 but are back to 3,5). We had tried to bring it forward for about a week but she woke up every 10 min until 9. That just seems to be the right time for her and this way she sees her dad in the evenings as well so I'm fine with it. And I think, having a bedtime routine is very important too.
Fruit, sorry to hear about your accident but your dad is right. Glad to hear that your 5 days on your own are over, I hope you can enjoy Ikea.

Fruit the number of times I've almost pranged the car, or bumped into something recently. It's the sleep deprivation! Enjoy Ikea I need to go there sometime to get material for curtains!

Claire I echo what the others say, go with the flow and you can always bring bedtime back at a later date if you want.

Pav maybe you should change the next dirty nappy under your dh's nose?!

Well last night I think Ioan slept from his 11pm feed until 6am!! He did wake at 2:30 and I put his dummy in, but I don't think I fed him but I can't quite remember
Am grateful as today is the interview so want to be sharp and with it. DH is off so will look after him while I'm there. He's also had him this morning from 7-8:30 while I went back to bed.
He's done quite a bit to help today and yesterday morning but it does beg the question why it's had to wait 3 months and for me to have such a major thing on for this help to appear.
Even so yesterday, he still put himself first. After me getting extra sleep in the morning for about 1.5 hours, I said for him to go back to bed. He finally got up at 3:30! I needed to prep for the interview so said I was expecting him up earlier and his resoponse ... you should have woken me!
Obviously alarms are only for women

Anyway, not thinking of any of that today. Brain getting into work mode now!

Good luck scarlotti!!!

hi all,

Claire as long as littlen is happy and your happy thats what counts, it does sound like he is doing really well. as he gets bigger he will probably go to sleep a bit earlier anyway so I wouldnt worry about anyone commenting on him being up too late for the moment.

Good luck Scarlotti from me too!

Hi everyone, still struggling with sleep issues here (mine and Toby's!) but happy to report that I am wearing my old size 10 French Connection jeans which I haven't worn for about four years! Yeah!

bbl that's something to be cheerful about

I nstill have 3kg to go to pre-pg weight... And then should drop another three. Now, where did I put those jaffa cakes...?

Good luck with the interview Scarlotti Erika hope you are ok today, you are doing a fab job , it is such hard work but you are doing it!

Bbl congrats on fitting into your jeans!

Millie slept from 10.30pm to 7.30am, ds woke up at 6.30am but because i went to bed at 9.30pm i feel great! Also managed to do the deed with dh this weekend, am relieved to have got the 1st time out of the way iyswim!

helips yey! on all fronts, especially the sleep (which in my eyes is the most important thing in the entire world right now!). We have not 'done the deed' yet. I had the coil fitted last week and it has brought on a period which i was not expecting, and absolutely not impressed with at all. I was anticipating a good couple of months more before that happened, and DH is not impressed either . Poor man, i suspect he thinks it will never happen again!

Hope the interview went well Scarlotti!

And hooray for everyone getting some decent sleep. Pavlov I remember being horrified to hear that 6 hours is 'sleeping through the night'. Still, the couple of time when James has done a 6-hour stretch have been AMAZING.

Thanks for all the well wishes yesterday. James is fine and that is the main thing. The black poo, which the doctor had really worried me about, turns out just to be as a result of him swallowing blood, which we already knew he'd done - so nothing to worry about. I managed yesterday feeding just from the side that wasn't bleeding and expressing from the other. It was ok, but a bit toe-curling as the side I fed from is actually the one that hurts more... Anyway I'm feeling much more positive that I managed that and am going to try and carry on this way until it heals (how long is that likely to take?). Scarlotti he's 8 weeks now. He is finally feeding less frequently, which is an absolute godsend as otherwise there's no way I'd still be BF today.

BBL I still don't fit into my pre-maternity clothes, never mind size 10...

Been away for flipping ages and still having to type this left-handed. Isla is hard work! She's a cry-y baby now, needing held all the time, and often has days when she only sleeps when she is feeding . She won't settle at night unless attached to me or my little finger, even if she has already been attached to me all evening. I was happy to go with the flow with her but now at 10 weeks I'm desperate for some semblance of routine/me-time in the evenings. We are still waiting for a hospital referral for her reflux, but today I'm also reading up about over supply and lactose overload since her nappies are still so full of mucus they resemble caramel slime. And she's in so much discomfort from excessive wind that it's hard to tell whether she's crying because of that, bevause she's hungry or because she fancies a suck. Sadly, the dummy and her fingers are not up to the job

I'm worried that I'm going to end up with a baby that can't/won't self-setlle, and that I'll have to perch on the edge of my small bed with her in it for the forseeable future. Since she started ranitidine she has managed to have one or more 10 minute preiods a day where I can put her down and she is content, but otherwise I've been stuck to this feeding chair.

DD1 is back to being whingey and needy and seems to go into an unhelpful trance when DD2 is crying, especially when we are getting ready for nursery. DH is away for 4 days this week and I'm dreading it. It's a useful opportunity to try sleep training since he won't be disturbed, but I get so fed up in the evenings it's just so much easier to attach her to the breast and go to sleep. Plus we've got carpet fitters and oven menders coming too.

By the way, does anyone have an opinion on pleated blinds? Fitted in the window or free-hangs?

Sorry for the whinge. I've just reached the point where this isn't fun and lovely any more.

BTW carpet fitters are nothing to do with co-sleeping - just another thing to think about!